Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake in the Party Bundt

Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze and Strawberries

I should just call this post, "THE PARTY BUNDT IS AN INSTANT PARTY." NordicWare brought back the Party Bundt. I didn't even know about this awesome bundt pan until my friend East Coast Mary aka ECM (yes, I'm West Coast Mary) sent me a link. When I said, "OMG. This is the greatest!!!" Then, being the sweetheart she is, she promptly wrote back, "Don't get it!"

Luckily, my birthday is in December and so is Christmas! Thanks so much ECM for my December Birthmas gift of the Party Bundt. I will use it all the time and think of you!

Look at those humps! It makes it so easy to cut perfect sized slices!

NordicWare Party Bundt (Amazon) or Nordic Ware or King Arthur Flour 

I received the pan and knew I had to use it for an upcoming dinner party. When I asked my friends for their favorite desserts, they both said Vanilla. Thus, the Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze and Strawberries by Matt Lewis, Renato Poliafito that appeared in Bon Appetit! I made this Bundt during I Like Big Bundts celebration, and it was time to make it again.

OMG. Look all those humps. Those lovely bundt cake humps! Whenever I bring a Bundt to work, I precut it into many slices (moderation and all that). But you have to cut in-between the humps of a regular bundt pan...but with this Party Bundt, everyone gets a hump (be careful not to say "Gets To..." instead of "Gets A...").

 

This recipe is called Vanilla Bean Bundt...but I didn't have any Vanilla Beans. Besides, they are so expensive. So I used the next best thing: Vanilla PASTE. It has all the micro vanilla bean seeds and it is much more economical. Look for Nielsen-Massey Vanillas 4-oz. Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste at your local cooking store or Amazon.

This cake has a nice crumb. It's hardy enough to take strawberries...and a side of ice cream if you wish. It keeps for a few days too...if it lasts that long.

I Like Big Bundts with Lots of Humps! :)

Recipe:
Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze and Strawberries
Adapted from Bon Appetit magazine

1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 sticks butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste (original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon bourbon and 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise with the seeds removed)
1/2 cup buttermilk

Vanilla Glaze
2/3 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons (or more) whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste)

Strawberries Topping
1 1/2 pounds strawberries, hulled, sliced
3 tablespoons sugar

Cake
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare the bundt pan (I use    spray)
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together.
3. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (5 minutes or so).
4. Add eggs and egg yolks one at a time, beating until combined after each edition.
5. Add vanilla paste.
6. Add the flour mixture in two additions, alternating with the buttermilk until just blended.
7. Pour batter into pan and smooth out the top.
8. Bake until a skewer comes out clean. Check at 45 minutes (recipe calls for 55 minutes, but mine only took 45 minutes).
9. Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes and then invert on the rack and cool completely before applying glaze.

Glaze

1. Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a bowl. If it's too thick, add a little more milk.
2. Drizzle over cooled cake. Let stand for 15 minutes before eating.

Strawberries

Toss strawberries and sugar in medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature until juices form, tossing occasionally, 20-30 minutes. Serve with the cake and enjoy!

   

Brown Butter and Vanilla Bean Weekend Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

Brown-Butter-and-Vanilla-Bean Weekend Cake

It's time for Tuesdays with Dorie! I made this last month and work really enjoyed it. I'm pretty exhausted so this is going to be super short.

Tuesdays with Dorie group does not post the recipes as we want to support the great work of Dorie Greenspan so please purchase the book, Baking Chez Moi: Recipes from My Paris Home to Your Home Anywhere and turn to page 6 for this fun recipe!

Brown butter is always nerve racking to make. Is it ready? Is it too far? What's that smell? Is that toasty or is that burnt?


This is supposed to be baked in a loaf pan, but I couldn't get to it. I tweeted a plea for help and professional baker and author @janeofmanytrade came to the rescue. She said I could use an 8" round. Thanks Alisa!

I didn't have a vanilla bean, so I used 2 teaspoons of both Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract and vanilla paste. Do you have the paste? I love it. More economical than getting vanilla beans and you get all the yummy flakes. I also skipped the alcohol (dark rum or amaretto).

I topped mine with some powdered sugar so it didn't look so plain.

I have a bunch of other stuff to post, and I hope to get to it next month (there are some good oatmeal scones coming up).

Good luck to Dorie Greenspan and all my friends on the East Coast as you get through this snowstorm!

See you next time,
Mary the Food Librarian

Quartre Quarts - French Fridays with Dorie

Quartre Quarts

I'm back! I'm back on the French Fridays with Dorie circuit! This week, the French Fridays with Dorie group made Quartre Quarts from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook Around my French Table. 

It's a snacking cake with no frosting. Um, I'm sooooo there!

This is totally delicious. I just made it afternoon and am trying to save some to bring into work tomorrow! It reminds me of the Swedish Visiting Cake sans the nuts. It is light, not very sweet and goes perfectly with a cup of coffee or tea. I used vanilla (you can also use rum) so it has a great warm, vanilla taste. It's topped with just enough brown sugar to give it sweetness.

Be sure to check out my fellow French Fridays with Dorie members and see their creations!

Please note: French Fridays with Dorie will not be posting recipes. Please support Dorie and purchase the book or find it at your library.

Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake - Day #19 of Food Librarian's I Like Big Bundts 3

Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze and Strawberries 

I Like Big Bundts - Day #19

TGIF!! Really, this week was epic long! Glad it's Friday!! And it's also Day #19 of I Like Big Bundts! I'm posting 30 bundts cakes in 30 days...all leading up to National Bundt Day on November 15th. I seriously love the Bundt cake! I love cake and don't care for frosting so the bundt is the perfect ratio of cake to frosting. I hope to inspire you to make a bundt for your friends, family, and random folks on the street.

I made this vanilla bean bundt in the Heritage Bundt...definitely one of my favorite bundt pans. A vanilla glaze covers the cake and it's served with a side of strawberries. I'm lucky to live in Los Angeles and can still find fresh strawberries in local farmer's market.

 

Bake a bundt for National Bundt Day on November 15th! Then submit a photo or blog post by November 24, 2011 and I'll send you a cute 1 1/4" button for baking along with me! The submission info can be found here!

Thanks to American Library Association's AL Direct eNewsletter for a shout out this week! Here is the newsletter (Nov 2nd - scroll to the bottom). I hope we have a good contingent of librarians and library staff participating in National Bundt Day! :)

I used vanilla paste instead of vanilla beans. Have you used vanilla paste? One of my favorite things in the kitchen because it is less expensive than vanilla beans and gives you all the seeds of the beans. This paste is incredible on a bit of ice cream...just sayin'.

Hope you have a great weekend planned! See you tomorrow for another Bundt! - mary the food librarian

Recap of I Like Big Bundts 3:
Day #1: Buttercake Bakery's Marble Bundt Cake
Day #2: Lemon Bliss Bundt
Day #3: Double-Chocolate Bundt Cake with Ganache Glaze
Day #4: Spice Bundt Cake with Brown Butter Vanilla Bean Glaze
Day #5: Gingery Pumpkin Breakfast Bundt
Day #6: Maida Heatter's Budapest Coffee Cake Bundt
Day #7: Dark Chocolate Bundt
Day #8: Banana Chocolate Chip Bundt
Day #9: Apple Spice Bundt
Day #10: Pumpkin Spice Bundt
Day #11: Doll Bundt Cake
Day #12: Light Chocolate Bundt with Coffee Glaze
Day #13: Spiced Cranberry Bundt
Day #14: Brown Sugar Bundt
Day #15: Buried Alive Bundt Cake
Day #16: Leftover Halloween Candy Bundt
Day #17: Lemon Bundt Cake
Day #18: Ultimate Streusel Bundt Cake

Recipe: Click here for printable recipe on Bon Appetit
by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, April 2010

Bundt Pan: Traditional 12-cup Bundt Pan

Split Level Pudding - Tuesdays with Dorie

Tonight is a night for pudding.

Pudding was one of the things we "made" as kids. Sure, it came out of a square box and you just added milk, but it was "cooking" to us kids.

Now that I'm grown up, I make it from scratch.

But, today, I just wish I could be a kid again.

Because then my friend, Lisa would live 5 houses down the street and we would play all the time. Sleep overs. Picking pill bugs in the garden. Forming clubs...complete with membership cards in the backyard clubhouse.

Lisa and I went to separate colleges and would lose touch for stretches of time over the years. Last May, I called her dad and got her phone number in Minnesota. As it has always been in our lives, we picked up like we just saw each other last week. I wished her happy birthday, and she was filled with news! She was in school getting her Master's degree, her four kids were healthy and happy, and she was engaged to a her college friend. After an uneventful one date in college, they reconnected after all these years.

Then, after a few emails and our usual promises of keeping in touch again, time just flew by...

Today, I learned that she has Stage 2 breast cancer. She's had surgery and will start chemo in seven days.

I'm in shock and sad. And guilty that I didn't know sooner and worked harder to keep in touch. Sometimes, I know more about people in my "blogging" world than someone I've known since the 2nd grade.

Grown up stuff like breast cancer can suck it. Today, I need pudding and to think about my friend Lisa and memories of us riding our bikes to school and walking to Winchell's donuts. My friend Lisa is a fighter and she'll be wearing a pink survivor shirt soon enough. I know she is surrounded by a wonderful family and community of friends. And she will always have a friend here in Los Angeles.

Oh yeah, that nice guy from college? He married her as soon as he found out. So congratulations Lisa and Jason on your recent nuptials...and kick this cancer in the butt.

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Garrett of Flavor of Vanilla picked Split Level Pudding, pages 384- 385 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I only made 1/4 of the recipe. I used milk chocolate for the ganache and it came out a bit hard (my 1/4 measurements may have been off too). I made the vanilla pudding using just a whisk and skipped the food processor. I sifted the cornstarch and salt mixture instead of food processing it. The small amount was fine with a whisk, but if I make the full recipe, I'm going for the food processor. It only too a few minutes for the pudding to thicken.

It was good and just what I needed today. - mary

Zebra Cake

When I saw the Zebra Cake on Foodgawker, I was intrigued! I couldn't figure out how it was made. Luckily, the instructions were really easy! Just pour alternating batter? I can do that!

The secret is two same size measuring cups and working quickly.

You make the simple batter (see recipe links below). Half the batter is vanilla and half is flavored with cocoa powder. I made mine in a 9" pan.

Carefully pour 1/4 cup into the middle of the pan. Don't wait for it to spread. And, hey, don't grab your camera and take photos! I think mine doesn't look like the others because I might have worked too slowly with the photo breaks! :)

Pour another 1/4 cup of the chocolate batter directly into the center of the pan on top of the previous batter. Repeat until you are out of batter.

It is really neat to see the batter spread out into these circles.

A bit of sugar is sprinkled on top and provides a simple crust.

Okay. I'll be honest with you. I thought the cake was a bit bland in flavor. Next time, I might make it Matcha (Green Tea) and Chocolate. Or, I would add more vanilla extract. However, it is so pretty that the flavor can be overlooked a bit! :)

Recipe and more photos (their cakes look have thinner layers that go all the way to the top):
The recipes are slightly different.
I used this one: Connie Veneracion's Home Cooking Rocks!
Great step-by-step photos: Farida’s Azerbaijani Cookbook

Vanilla Ice Cream - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu decided on Vanilla Ice Cream on page 428 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. Lynne's blog is sooo pretty!

I've never made vanilla ice cream! Thanks Lynne for picking this recipe...it's perfect for this hot summer!

This vanilla ice cream has heavy cream, whole milk, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla. I used vanilla paste to get those nifty little vanilla bean specks.

I made an ice cream sandwich with two Ginger Spice Cookies. Yum! These remind me of the ice cream sandwiches at Diddy Reese in Westwood. It's a landmark at UCLA. Cookies for $.25 and ice cream sandwiches with Dreyer's ice cream for a buck (prices have gone up, but only a little). It's 100% sweetness.

Have some summer fun with this delicious vanilla ice cream! And be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Page 428 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours
or...Vanilla Ice Cream on Cafe LynnyLu